Australian Under-20 coaches Adrian Thompson and Sean Hedger have named their squad for the final IRB Junior World Championship selection camp, which runs from today until Sunday at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra.
The camp features 50 players from across the country, as Thompson and his coaches look to finalise their 28-man squad for the Under-20 tournament in France this June.
Head coach Thompson said the camp will provide him with a more in-depth look at the players before the Under-20 squad is announced next week.
“We’ll make the camp quite challenging and try to simulate what they’ll experience at the tournament to assess whether they are ready for that environment,” Thompson said.
Much of the camp will be geared at game preparation, as the players will be split into two teams to play in a trial match on Sunday.
“This will be a selection trial match, we want to see them prepare in a team situation and how they perform under pressure,” Thompson said.
“The big focus for us is to use this week as a selection tool.
“While we’re preparing these two teams for their trial match we’ll be teaching them a fair bit of how we want to play the game in June, so hopefully they’ll leave the camp with a good understanding of that.”
While eligible for selection, Queensland Reds player Chris Feauai-Sautia is unavailable to attend this week’s camp.
Qantas Men’s Sevens representatives Cam Clark, Tom Cusack, Allan Fa’alava’au, Lewis Holland, Junior Laloifi, Nick Malouf, Sean McMahon and Will Miller are all eligible to represent Australia at the Under-20 level but could be unavailable due to the Rugby World Cup Sevens tournament also taking place in June.
The Australian age-grade program has long been a development stepping stone for future Wallabies, with the likes of Will Genia, David Pocock, Rob Simmons, James Slipper and Rob Horne all making their way through the program early in their careers.
The Australian Under-20 squad for the IRB Junior World Championship will be named next week and the team will head into its first preparation camp at Bond University in the first week of May.
The side will play two trials before leaving for France, taking on Papua New Guinea’s national team on Thursday 2 May at Bond University and an Australian Rugby Union National Academy side at Narrabeen Sports Academy in mid-May.
The IRB Junior World Championship runs 5-23 June in France, where Australia will face New Zealand, Fiji and Ireland in pool play.
Australian Under-20 Selection Camp
Name
State
Club
Allan Alaalatoa
NSW
West Harbour
Mark Baldwin
NSW
Randwick
Curtis Browning
QLD
University of Queensland
Luke Burton
WA
University RC WA
Declan Carroll
NSW
Northern Suburbs
Jack Debreczeni
NSW
West Harbour
Jack Dempsey
NSW
Gordon
Rhys Dombkins
NSW
Manly
Karl Elliott
NSW
Western Lions
Sam Fattal
QLD
Easts
Lalakai Foketi
NSW
Manly
Feao Fotuaika
QLD
Sunnybank
Michael Freeman
NSW
Northern suburbs
Samuel Green
QLD
Wests
Albert Hemopo
NSW
Southern Districts
Reece Hodge
NSW
Manly
Oliver Hoskins
NSW
Manly
Chris Ingate
NSW
Sydney University
Siotome Kavapalu
NSW
Manly
Samuel Kerevi
QLD
GPS Ashgrove
Phill Kite
QLD
GPS Old Boys Rugby Club
Brad Lacey
WA
Wests Scarborough
Silatolu Latu
NSW
Sydney University
Ofiu Manukeu
NSW
West Harbour
Jake McIntyre
NSW
Sunnybank
Ben Meehan
QLD
Sunnybank
Jock Merriman
NSW
Sydney University
Jake Milne
QLD
GPS
Conor Mitchell
QLD
University of Queensland
Andrew Muirhead
QLD
Souths
Maile Ngauamo
QLD
Sunnybank
Alex Northam
NSW
Manly
Harry Parker
QLD
University of Queensland
Matt Philip
NSW
Sydney University
Jonah Placid
QLD
Easts
John Porch
QLD
Northern Suburbs
Oscar Pryor-Lees
NSW
Northern Suburbs
Angus Pulver
NSW
Sydney University
Andrew Ready
QLD
Easts
Andrew Robinson
ACT
Tuggeranong Vikings
Ulupano Seuteni
QLD
Easts
Patrick Sio
NSW
Northern Suburbs
Thomas Staniforth
ACT
Royals
Jim Stewart
NSW
Sydney University
Henry Taefu
QLD
Sunnybank
Corey Thomas
WA
University of Western Australia
Campbell Wakely
NSW
University of Queensland
Scott Gale
QLD
University of Queensland
Mitchell Whiteley
NSW
Sydney University
Tom Wilson
NSW
Sydney University
